Final Fantasy II is free, sort of.

According to an email I received Final Fantasy II a free download until Feb. 14th 2016 on the Final Fantasy Portal ( Google Play | iOS ), but if you need to re-download again after this event, you’ll be paying for the download. Is that to add it to your account or is this a game vending machine?

DRaMa
In the process of trying to find out I hit an absolutely ridiculous security wall called “One Time Passwords” and “Security Tokens”. These are heavy handed DRM controls to restrict both piracy and rampant farming in Square’s MMORPGs. This is why ratings don’t matter. You can’t taste awesome cake under lock and key if you don’t know which doors to open to get to it.

Why does everyone play Candy Crush? Open the package, taste the cake. It may be cheap, it may gouge you on the price of the drink you need to choke it down. It may even shove twenty other kinds of cakes at you while you’re eating, but you know what you’re getting and where to find more.

Square “cakes” are gorgeous, luscious, many layers works of art they’d rather not see abused. Who can blame them? I can. Creating an account to register the game I purchase is like going into the neighbour’s house to get dressed in my clothes. Go to site you’ve never heard of to create a two factor buy tramadol authentication code only you can use or just go play something else.

You need to be invested in order to do this.

LoopHoles
If anyone wonders why MMOs are reported as being on the decline, this is one of the reasons why. Who wants to spent twenty minutes hassling with trumped up security features when there’s so much competition? Square-Enix reported profits last quarter, but they’ve also been making cost cutting decisions and have a tendency to never put their games on sale.

Consequently no one talks about them, and even fewer play them.

Steam, GOG, Origin and Uplay appreciate the power of presence. Put a product in their hands, don’t worry if they like it. The point is you gave them something of value and they’ll remember you fondly. They have a higher chance of returning and spending money on you. Sampling. There you are.

Back to FFII. There’s no reason to jump through so many hoops for this game. There are superior free to plays available. I said it. Go find a few at Itch.io! FFII is classic, but its mobile presentation is lacking: Clumsy and boring by current standards. Few agree it’s worth its asking price.

Note that FFII is not available on the Google Play store as a stand alone purchase. If Squarix was looking to hook players on must have IP, this isn’t the way to go. Deal seekers beware.